With so much data on our hands and a growing interest in utilising those data to their fullest potential, requests about new reports and analyses keep pouring in. Prioritising which tasks to work on may sound daunting but it is essential to ensure the success of your data/analytics project.

Why is project scoping important? 🎯

Today, most organisations sit on top of vast amounts of data, some of which they use to maintain a competitive advantage, while others are used to ensure compliance with internal or external policies. In either case, the number of stakeholders is expanding, each one with their own agenda and expectations. It is easy to become overwhelmed by having to navigate the complex landscape of diverging priorities, especially when short on resources.

Therefore, to get the most out of your data project, it's important to ensure that your resources are well spent. When your project is clearly defined and you have agreed on a minimal viable product (MVP) with the receiver of your product, it's easier not to get lost in the details.

Is project scoping relevant for you? 🐝

Whether it comes down to conducting a one-off analytics project, building a data pipeline or designing an interactive business intelligence solution, project scoping is highly relevant to ensure that you get the outcome you need. A lot of excellent analytics products end up being unused, typically because of their disconnect from the business and the people who are supposed to be used. If you don't want to risk spending your resources on something that doesn't generate value, clearly defining your project is a good place to start.

Project scoping may be relevant for you if you're thinking of:

• Setting up a data extract, transform and load (ETL) pipeline
• Designing a business intelligence (BI)/reporting solution
• Running an analytics project involving either statistical analysis or machine learning (ML)

How do you know you're on the right track? 🎢

A well-defined project that has been approved by your stakeholders while at the same time being realistic in the context of your resources is always a good start. It's usually easy to guess whether you're off to a good start by evaluating your project's relevance, clearness and how involved your stakeholders are in it:

A project with a clear and business-relevant scope that has your important stakeholders onboard is more likely to be successful in generating value for you and your organisation.

Need help with scoping your project? 🚣‍♀️

If you have decided on investing in building a data/analytics tool, running an analysis to test your hypotheses or just exploring the potential of optimising your data set-up, MindGraph can help you translate your business needs into a project specification. Together, we can define the scope of the final product, estimate the resources needed to achieve your goal, identify opportunities for improvement and mitigate any potential risks.

To take the first step on your data-driven journey, feel free to reach out for a free, no-strings-attached 30 minutes meeting where we can discuss your needs in more detail: